Editorial: David Crisafulli is making election promises, now it’s time for the detail

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has definitely entered the big-promises phase of the LNP’s state election campaign. But pledges must go hand-in-hand with detail about how they will be achieved, writes the Editor.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has definitely entered the big-promises phase of the LNP’s state election campaign.

Earlier this week, he pledged that Queensland would have fewer crime victims if he won office in October. A few weeks prior, he promised a productivity review within the first 100 days of a new government – an obvious, and absolutely necessary, attempt to break the CFMEU’s expensive stranglehold on big public project terms and conditions. Last month, he used his budget reply speech to promise he would fix Brisbane’s Olympic and Paralympic Games “mess” – also within 100 days.

Mr Crisafulli has also committed to delivering one million homes by 2044, and to scrapping the Labor government’s multibillion-dollar Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro project in favour of “smaller, more manageable” projects.

Then there is his 44-page “Right Priorities for Queensland’s Future” document that includes such lofty aspirations such as “making our community safer”, “easier access to health services” and “securing our housing foundations”.

Opposition leader David Crisafulli. Picture Lachie Millard

All well and good. It’s always important for politicians to put down such markers to give voters something to judge them by.

In fact, we have been consistent in calling for this to happen – so that voters have time to reflect on what sort of government they are about to put into office, if the opinion polling holds true at the ballot box.

What is still missing though is the full detail of how a future Crisafulli government might actually set about achieving these various goals – that are, today, mostly little more than motherhood statements.

Mr Crisafulli says of the Miles government all the time that “the devil is in the detail”. Well, touche.

Now, it is entirely understandable why Mr Crisafulli might want to keep playing this updated version of his small-target strategy for as long as possible – and focus instead on reminding voters of Labor’s record in office over the past decade.

He – and his party – desperately need to ensure the election remains a referendum on that, rather than a popularity contest between him and Premier Steven Miles (even though all the opinion polling so far gives the LNP leader in commanding position when it comes to who is preferred premier).

There was a need a few months ago for Mr Crisafulli to start making some announcements, so that voters could get a sense of what he was promising. And credit where it is due, he has since done that.

But sooner rather than later, Mr Crisafulli is going to have to give voters much more to work with. How much will the LNP’s various promises cost? How will they be paid for? How many promises of 100-day reviews are too many?

Mr Crisafulli and his LNP team are hot favourites to win the next election. The Queensland LNP does, however, know how to lose an election. And the Labor Party machine sure knows how to win one. There is no doubt the ALP will be going as hard and as negative as they ever have to turn the tide – while the Premier and Treasurer have already shown a willingness to spend whatever it takes in marginal seats to try to hold them, no matter how obvious the taxpayer-funded pork-barrelling is.

All that said, Sportsbet still has the LNP as $1.20 favourites to win, and Labor as $5 outsiders. But the odds on the government winning a fourth-term were $9 just six weeks ago – and there are still 16 weeks to go until election day.

This contest is far from over. Mr Crisafulli and his LNP must resist any temptation to treat voters like dills. He can promise all he wants, but Queenslanders taking a risk in voting him in as premier will want to be convinced that the LNP is ready to govern. And a big part of that is showing how they plan to achieve what they have promised, and how they will pay for it all.

Broncos fullback Reece Walsh in training at Red Hill. Picture: Liam Kidston

PANTHERS SHOWDOWN FORK IN THE ROAD FOR BRONCOS

Tonight’s showdown with the Panthers at Suncorp Stadium is probably the 2024 season’s Waterloo for the Brisbane Broncos.

Find a way to win – and their run towards the finals is firmly back on track after a horror few weeks. Lose, and the confidence could empty from a team that has been seriously missing its heart and soul in injured captain Adam Reynolds.

Broncos coach Kevin Walters says his superstar fullback Reece Walsh is ready to explode in front of a packed home crowd tonight in a game that also will see the return of Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan.

Phil Gould – a man who knows a thing or two about rugby league – says he thinks the Broncos have the talent to even win the premiership this year after falling so agonisingly short in 2023.

But footy legend Matthew Johns is not convinced, pointing out that what has helped lead the Panthers to their three premierships has been the ability to lift both their intensity and their aggression when their playmaker Nathan Cleary has been injured – something the Broncos have failed at without Reynolds.

Whoever is right, it’s all on the line tonight. Let’s Go Broncos!